I received a summons today from a local attorney suing me on behalf of Citibank. Attached to the summons was a copy of the credit card agreement that stipulates that any issue arising would need to be brought up to an Arbitrator. My question is thus: why am I being sued while the agreement mentions ARBITRATION only. Shouldn't I have been contacted by the arbitrator? Or is the summons just their way of informing me that they want the matter brought up to an arbitrator? Do I need to respond to the summons or will the judge transfer the case directly to the arbitrator for Citibank if I fail to answer? What do I need to do? Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.
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Report to court on the date/time listed on the summons. Make your plea, then state what sort of action you plan on taking against this matter.Originally posted by fred834
Good Luck!Last edited by HRx; 12-27-2004, 11:24 AM.The information provided is not, and should not be considered legal advice. All information provided is only informational and should be verified by a law practioner whenever possible. When confronted with legal issues contact an experienced attorney in your state who specializes in the area of law most directly called into question by your particular situation. -
IS there a SOL on Judgem
As it happened in your case, the court will try and contact you via mail, but they do not need proof that you were contacted, and you do not have to be present for your creditor to win. The creditor only has to provide proof that the debt is owed. You want to avoid this at all costs; for it is after a judgment is issued that a creditor can seize bank accounts, assets, or garnish wages. In addition, it is easy to renew a judgment once its statute of limitations has passed. In effect, if the creditor is diligent about his renewals, you could find yourself in the position where a judgment against you never expires. A judgment will drop off your credit report after seven years, but your creditor can hound you until the debt is paid.
So take note of your SOL before going to court. But if it hasn't passed and you owe CitiBank money, they will win for sure. All that CitiBank has to do is show the court that you owe them money. Then CitiBank could keep renewing the judgement.Comment
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What is SOL,
What is an SOL? This sounds horrible, I have Citi. Will this happen to me too? Even after I file? So there is NO protection under the bankruptcy act?Comment
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fred 834, how late were you before this happened?
How late were you before this happened? Had you already filed for bankruptcy, and this is what they did while you were waiting for your bk hearing? So garnishments stay on your credit report for 7 years, do they also list as "judgements against you" when you fill out an employment application. Will you always have to list that judgement even after your bankruptcy is done and discharged?Comment
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Chris, from what I understand from my own experience, once you have filed bk they can not come after you or pass a judgement against you as long as you included that debt in your filing. Once you are officially filed, the bk court says all collection action must stop. We had a garnishment before filing and after filing it stopped and now after discharge, it can't be renewed. Atleast that is how I understand it. As far as listing it as a judgement after discharge, I am not sure but I am sure that someone else will know. Am I right on this guys and what do you think? Hope this helps a little Chris.Comment
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thx
Thanks for your help!Comment
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Question for Fred:
How long did it take Citibank to get a court date?
We just got an incredibly nasty call from Citibank's collection people saying that they are going to expedite action against us.
Our attorney wants us to wait a couple more weeks to file (b/c we have one card that was used during the holidays), but perhaps we ought to file sooner. Of course we will speak with our attorney, but it's the weekend and we won't talk to him until after the holiday, so we just wanted to get a sense of the timetable w/ Citibank taking a court action.
*I really wish I hadn't answered the phone!*Comment
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